Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
morning,enlistingthehelpoflocals,heerectedaramshacklesaloon.Witharousing
speech to the workers, he declared free drinks for everyone for the rest of the day
and was on his way to making a small fortune.
The Globe Saloon, as Deighton's enterprise became known, was soon a social
center, and more buildings sprang up around his business. Three years after serving
his first tot of whiskey, Gassy Jack became the first official landowner in Granville
when he purchased Lot 1 of the newly laid out settlement. With tax collectors on
his tail, he was forced to move his operation into a more permanent building, so he
opened a hotel on his lot, providing both liquor and accommodations.
Life as a saloon owner took its toll on the entrepreneur. Wild drunken brawls
brought unwanted attention from local police officers; he was continually hounded
by tax collectors; and his wife died at a young age. Gassy died in a summer heat
wave at just 45 years old. His funeral cost an unheard-of sum of $136.
Vancouver's Eastside neighborhood lies between touristy Gastown and bustling Chin-
atownbutisaworldawayfromboth.Althoughitholdslittleofinteresttomodern-dayvis-
itors, it has an interesting history and is a real eye-opener. The beginnings of Vancouver's
development are usually attributed to Gassy Jack, who opened his saloon to serve workers
from a sawmill that operated to the east, on a spit of land beyond the foot of today's Dun-
levy Street. Mill workers could also find accommodation there, and Alexander Street de-
veloped as a residential area, with commercial buildings clustered around the intersection
ofMain andHastings Streets. Around1900,these early Vancouver businesses relocated to
the heart of modern-day downtown, and residents who could afford it followed, settling in
the West End. Eastside then became home to mostly working-class families, single men,
and newly arrived immigrants.
Japanese were the most prominent group of Eastside immigrants, settling around Op-
penheimer Parkandopeningbusinesses alongPowell Street inanarea that became known
as
Japantown.
Most local Japanese were interned during World War II, and Japantown
was all but abandoned.
Today Eastside has the lowest median income of all Vancouver neighborhoods, just
one-quarter ofthe city's average. These low-income residents live in old hotels and board-
inghouses, mostly in what are known locally as single-room occupancy units (SROs). Be-
